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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Chickpea seeni sambal

A while ago, my mum was introduced to “seeni sambal” by a Sri Lankan friend and loved the spicy hot flavour. It has since been a family staple!

Having never been to Sri Lanka, I’m not really sure how it’s cooked over there but it’s basically a spice mix of maldive fish chips/flakes and chilli. A Sri Lankan ex-colleague said that his wife cooked it with diced potatoes. My mum and I cook it using a ready-made seeni sambal spice mix and add it to fried diced onions and tomatoes to make a hot and incredibly tasty sambal that we eat with rice.

Seeing as eating fried onions, chilli and rice is like eating oil, chilli and carbohydrates – not exactly nutritious (but very very tasty), I’ve modified the recipe to add some protein to make chickpea seeni sambal.

Here’s my recipe for chickpea seeni sambal. In Melbourne, we get the spice mix from an Asian grocery shop. I haven’t seen it sold in Paris, but then again, I probably haven’t been looking as Mum actually sends me packets from Melbourne!

· Oil for frying· 1 big onion· 400g can chickpeas· 2 ripe tomatoes (diced)· 2 tablespoons (or more if you like it HOT!) seeni sambal spice mix· Salt to taste· A squirt of tomato ketchup (it sounds weird but it makes a difference)

Fry onions until soft and brown in a pan.Add the diced tomatoes and cook till soft.Add the seeni sambal spice mix to the pan and stir.Add a squirt of tomato ketchup.Drain the chickpeas and add to the pan.Serve hot with rice.

Hubs tends to complain when I cook this, as it’s too spicy for his delicate French tastebuds! Hehe!